Earned some bonus points and got out again tonight to ski.
Justin, who is a MRG tele guy and his MRG buddy Dave (both teachers too)
invited me to skin/ski tonight on the TD. I got to act as host, which is a
role I relish.
Blew off inviting anyone else as the start time was a "teacher-specific"
early 3:30 pm at the mtn (sorry Scott and Evil One..)
Conditions were not much different than Monday--cloudy and chilly. The big
hill is locked up pretty good with cold air... The trail was a brutal
moonscape of gomer marks, postholes, sitzmarks, dog-prints and old ski tracks
that were petrified into a nasty hardness.
Skinning was better off the trail, so we tried to do as much as possible in
the consistent but crusty corn of the woods. Dave and Justin both suffered
from the "my old skins are now smaller than my fat skis" curse, which is an
issue on the steep pitches. We all struggled, but I did a little better with
my wall-to-wall "magic carpets." My hero status was short-lived however...
Opting out of the trail for the down-hill run, we did the "Hugh-drop." Hopes
were that the crust would hold in the trees. It was a good call, but I was
out-skied by both Dave and Justin, who did better in the crusty
corn/hard-nastiness.
One scary feature of the ski was the unpleasant way you slid way too far if
you fell. Crust was edgable, but hard enough to carry you at speed if you
tumbled. I ended up floundering and sliding once into a big ol tree, and Dave
had a likewise close call.
Partee is a few days off. It was snowing when I left the park, so either we
have hard nastiness, pow, or corn by sunday. I hope it warms up...
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